Nowhere to go?

then see you tomorrow at the Mucky Pup

Nazis!!!

Here's a fun little short that Kirkland over at Toybot Studios found:

1945A from Ryan Nagata on Vimeo.

Nothing like giant Nazi spider tanks, huh?

If you're not familiar with TbS, it's a fantastic blog collecting all sorts of toy news from Japan and the States. Kirkland dedicates a phenomenal amount of time and energy into it and takes some top pictures.
Not your normal fare from CB, but it's wacky toys and I like them, so have a perusal.

Halloween Before Christmas

Below is the new trailer from Rafa Martinez, he of Zombies and Cigarettes renown. It doesn't give much away (possibly because the only Spanish I speak are the few bits of vulgarity my old Puerto Rican friends taught me, though I do ok at ordering Mexican food) but clown masks and little girls are almost always scary. Not to mention how well executed Z&C was, I look forward to following the developments of this project.

Teaser Halloween before Christmas from Rafa Martínez on Vimeo.

Random News bits

In the past few years, few bits of film news has excited me as much as this piece in Variety did yesterday. Vincent Cassel is going to be starring in a film adaptation of Matthew Lewis's singularly brilliant proto gothic novel, The Monk.
I Make no secret of the fact that I love tales of the fallen, and The Monk is right at the top of the list.
Cassel being cast as Ambrosio is perfect and genius, I cannot think of anyone better to play the monk who the whole of Europe travels to, no one this side of heaven is as holy as he. And no one this side of a Greek tragedy falls as far into a dark pit of depravity.
I have been saying for years that someone needs to pick this up and make.
To my shame I have yet to see the previous adaptations, but I'll put my money on this one being the definitive screen adaptation.
Oh exciting!!!!



In other news, The Crazies is just around the corner, yes, another remake, but one that looks set to be pretty damn good.


And finally!
I have a new piece up on the Quietus, I suppose it is in defence of Peter Jackson for all the shit he's getting for The Lovely Bones, which I feel is unwarranted and not really well considered, anyway, you can read that here.

Otherwise, we look forward to seeing you all on the 1st!!!

1st March

Heartless

Spend some time with me and no doubt I will start on about one of the true loves in my life - London. I love London. I really like watching films set in London.
One of my favourite themes in art, be it film, literature, music, whatever, is the classic pact with the devil.
A good old Faustian tale keeps me happy.
One of my favourite films is Murnau's Faust from 1926, an amazing film, breathtaking and beautiful. But I digress...

So let's say you combine the two?
Possibly find a setting that Marlowe himself would have been familiar with, East London.
Set in Bethnal Green, Heartless is quite a moving take on a classic theme. Filled with loving, knowing images of the Boundary Estate and the surrounding areas there's no doubt that Philip Ridley's long waited return to the moving picture is a force to be reckoned with. But small time and slightly highbrow, it risks slipping out of sight quickly, catch it while you can.
Released in every conceivable format in late May, I strongly suggest you catch it in the cinema, it's quite a film to behold.

Until then...

Kick Ass is coming,,,

Everything I am hearing/reading/seeing about this film is all positive.
The Guardian has a great piece on Kick Ass here.

An this lovely bit of visual has dropped into my gmail account today:



I love a good film poster, one day I'll get pics of my Mexican lobby cards.

And of course, we have the international red band trailer



Eat your heart out Spidey!

News

With another episode of Cigarette Burns Cinema behind us, we would like to thank everyone that came out to play and enjoy the Re-Animator.
Special thanks to Flashback for their continuing support and of course The Screen on the Green for the comp tickets, the winner of which is certainly in for a treat.
I have it on good authority that The Screen will start showing some interesting midnight features soon, so keep your eyes peeled.

For those of you who would like to watch the short again, Zombies and Cigarettes is available for viewing, in full, on their website here. We would like to thank Rafa for letting us screen the film and hope you all liked it as much as we did.

In other news, I am excited to welcome Death Cola Design on board and look forward some interesting poster art... instead of my crappy attempts.

As ever, we hope to see you in March!!